Better Police Retention Starts With Better Recruiting!

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Sick of hearing about recruiting, recruiting and more recruiting and want to start hearing about retention, retention, and more retention because that’s where your real problem lies?  I’m about to blow the lid off of the secret to retaining police employees...Keep reading! 👀

Hey everyone, it’s Tom Sye your Police Marketing FTO and this one is for the retention crowd.  I hear you and I get it!  It’s tough to lose people.   You spend a lot of time and money bringing people in and getting them all trained up, only to lose them to another agency or worse still, depending on how you look at it, another career because this one wasn’t for them.  Frustrating, I know! 🙋‍♂️

So, for this week’s newsletter, I'm not going to add to your frustration and beat around the bush, tease you with information, or make you wait until the end to learn the secret.  Here it is... 👇

Retaining police employees starts...at...recruiting. 😲

Now, before you start cussing me for bringing up recruiting during a retention piece and click off this thing...let me explain two things that are very important to your retention philosophy...and when I say important, I’m talking about you never fixing retention until you understand these concepts level of importance. ❗❗❗ 

Before you can address your retention issues you must first understand that retention is just as much, if not more about them, the employee, than it ever is about you.  No amount of money, benefit, or perk that you come up with is ever going to change that. 🤯

Let me say that again...

Retention is just as much, if not more, about them, the employee, than it ever is about you.  No amount of money, benefit, or perk that you come up with is ever going to change that. 🤯🤯

If you’re a small agency and hiring someone who wants to use you as a steppingstone to get to a bigger agency, there’s nothing that you’re going to do to change that. 🤷‍♂️

If you’re a large or mid-sized agency who has someone who really wanted something a little more laid back and close knit, there’s nothing that you’re going to do to change that. 🤷‍♂️

Money or perks may make things great for a little bit, but people want what they want and will make decisions accordingly. 🧠  

Concept number two. It’s ok that people leave your agency. 

So often we get caught up in the sudden nature of vacancies that we only ask ourselves oh my god, 'how do we stop this?' when we should be asking: 'wait a minute, do we even want this person to stay?'. 🤔 

If you’ve got someone who is just bitter, and negative, and is bringing everyone and everything around them down this is an easier answer...obviously, no.  The old addition by subtraction theory. 📈

It gets a little tougher when you’re dealing with a good employee, but the answer is still the same.  Look, for me, I never want to hold anyone back and if they want to go to a bigger agency, a smaller agency, a federal agency or just a whole new career entirely, I’m gonna be happy for them and celebrate it. 👏

It’s hard to wrap our heads around this concept, but not everyone is meant to stay somewhere for twenty or twenty-five years.  The further we get into new generations, and this isn’t a knock on them by any stretch, the truer that statement becomes. You just have to accept this and stop living in the past. 👍

OK, now that you understand that...

Let me tell you how to use recruiting to help your police retention. 

Typically, and generally speaking, most police agencies are finding applicants through traditional means.  Simple job postings on their government website, meeting people at recruiting or job fairs, making job posts on law enforcement related job boards, advertising on law enforcement related websites, to name a few. 👮‍♂️👮‍♀‍

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not running those methods down, but all you’re really attracting at those places is people who want a police job...whether it’s with you or somebody else.  Sometimes it works out and they stay a while, and sometimes they don’t. 5️⃣0️⃣ / 5️⃣0️⃣

The same thing happens with those headhunter agencies who get you applications through their systems, their websites, or attend job fairs on your behalf.  They’re simply targeting people who are interested in becoming a Police Officer, wherever that may be. 😐😐😐 

If you truly want to fix your retention problem and hire people who want to work for you, and only you, you have to start recruiting that way.  And that means, meeting your potential applicants where they’re at...building a relationship with them, and showing them that people like them are happy, fulfilled, and satisfied when they work for you. 😃😃😃

Those are the kind of people who stay.  Unless of course, you break your promise to them and turn out to be something you were saying you weren’t. 🤥

People who want to work for you, and only you, bring a whole new level of excitement to your agency and that energy shoots right up the seniority list.  It helps make your FTO’s better, as they’re excited to train people who want to be here.  Your seasoned officers are happier because they see themselves in those coming in and not just some kid who doesn’t know anything. 😎

Supervisors feel more invested in their squads and get excited again to mold and teach their new folks who will take the knowledge and actually apply it.  And command staff is happy because everyone else is happy and doing good things for the community. 🚀

Simply put...morale, culture, work environment, whatever you want to call it gets better when you hire people who are looking for exactly what your agency has to offer.  So, if you want better retention, start with better recruiting. 🙌

Want to see our profession get stronger with better recruiting by everyone?  Give this newsletter a like or share it with someone at another agency so they can learn too.  Remember, we’re all in this together. 🤝

Need more police marketing and recruiting tips like the ones you just read? My Road to Better Recruiting online super course will teach you how to recruit like it's 2025! Check it out now at: www.forcopstraining.com/rtbr

Have questions about police recruiting, marketing or anything else you're struggling with? Don't hesitate to reach out...I’m always here to help. ⛑

Until next week my Police Marketing Squad, happy recruiting! 😃

Tom

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👋 I’m Tom Sye, your Police Marketing FTO. I founded ‘For Cops’ Training to teach Police Departments how to attract more qualified candidates through the same tried and tested methods I’ve used for the past ten years at my own department to keep up with turnover and stay ahead of vacancies.

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